House votes to give rural roads fight $1M boost

SALT LAKE CITY — A fund for fighting the federal government over control of thousands of roads on public lands could get a $1 million boost.

The Utah House voted unanimously Monday to transfer the money into the state’s Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office. Utah recently declared intent to file a federal lawsuit over access to 19,000 rural roads known as RS2477 roads.

“We feel like we’re going to win these cases,” said Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, sponsor of HB467. “I promise these funds will be well spent.”

Rep. Brian King, D-Salt Lake, said he’s concerned about the state “getting sucked into a trap that’s going to be extraordinarily expensive” without taking stock of what it’s getting into.